


Telltale

by ILikeShorts



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hidden Feelings, Humor, Memories, One Shot, Rivalry, Romance, The Moment of Truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24970549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILikeShorts/pseuds/ILikeShorts
Summary: Leon lost his way. Sonia worried for days. They kissed beneath the gates of Wyndon. Or so the old story goes. But he wasn't lost, he swears. And she wasn't worried, she insists. And they never kissed. Where would anyone get that idea?
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Sonia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	Telltale

**tell _v._** _to give an account of; narrate; relate_

 **tell _n._** _an inadvertent behavior that betrays true thoughts, intentions, or emotions_

* * *

Something is different at the lab when Sonia returns from her lunch break, shopping bags in hand.

It's the unmistakable laugh of one unexpected visitor.

She pockets her glasses and finger-combs her hair, then rounds the corner to find him sitting precisely where she's told him not to time and time again.

"Leon! Get off my desk!"

* * *

It's always the same. Hop knows better than to get in the way by now.

Leon remains atop the desk, casual in his defiance. "Good to see you too, Sonia. Hard at work, I take it."

"I was on lunch, not that it's any of your business." Sonia sets her bags down on the floor, making no apologies. "And that's Professor Sonia to you."

The charade isn't lost on Leon. They've been friends since childhood, after all. "When have you ever called me—"

"Sorry, Champion Leon." She pauses in mock realization. "Oh, wait."

Sonia might say they've been rivals.

"Low." Leon gives a dismissive chuckle. "That was low. But in case you're wondering—"

"I'm not."

"I'm having the most Champion time of my life." He leans back in an exaggerated manner, pushing Sonia's Yamper mug aside. "Forget Wyndon Stadium. The Battle Tower's where it's at."

Leon acts differently when Sonia is around, Hop has noticed. As though he has someone to impress.

If Sonia is impressed, she hides it well. "When you can find it."

He waves off her retort. "Every single day. It's only the tallest thing in Galar."

"Really, Leon?" She sits next to him on the desk, piling papers out of the way, and turns to Hop. "Have I ever told you the story of how he got lost on his first trip to Wyndon? The tower didn't help him then."

"Don't take her word for it," Leon advises his brother. "I wasn't lost, for starters."

"So he says," Sonia appeals to her assistant. "You can be the judge of that."

"Nah." Leon straightens. "We're gonna head out now, thanks."

In fact, Leon had no need to drop by the lab. Hop will be home soon enough. But somehow, for some reason, Leon always does.

"Oh, but it's a fascinating story. Besides." Sonia smiles pointedly at Hop. "Work isn't over."

* * *

"So we were all travelling to Wyndon for the Champion Cup," Sonia begins in a narrative tone. "Leon, Nessa, Raihan, and I."

Leon, loath to be outspoken, recounts the tale in his own voice. "So we all made that final trek up Route One."

"Ten," Hop corrects, to Sonia's amusement. "Route One is the road by our house."

Leon grins back. His sense of direction, he's proud to observe, doesn't run in the family. "We all made that final trek up Route Ten. Except Sonia," he adds, as a purposeful afterthought.

"I took the train and met them there," Sonia clarifies. "I'd moved on from battling by then, so…"

Leon puts it more bluntly. "You mean you gave up."

This, Hop has come to learn, is a point of contention between them.

"I decided it wasn't for me." Sonia forces a tight smile.

"You could've made it if you'd stuck it out," Leon says, and he maintains it to this day.

"I _did_ make it!" Sonia blushes at her outburst and collects herself, smoothing down the lapels on her lab coat. "Not everyone has to be a pro trainer, you know."

Sonia acts differently when Leon is around, Hop has noticed. As though she has something to prove.

Leon takes in the state-of-the-art facility, its shelves and screens filled with research—now hers. "So you did." He meets her eyes meaningfully, and a moment passes between them. "Congratulations, Professor."

Hop suspects he's intruding on matters he doesn't understand. "Not to interrupt, but… how long is this story going to be?"

* * *

"Raihan arrived in Wyndon first," Sonia continues her account of the journey. "Followed the map on his phone the whole way there."

"Some things never change," Leon reminisces. "Even back then, he wouldn't put it down."

"Nessa came later. Faced all the challengers she met on the road. But Leon was nowhere to be found." Sonia breaks for dramatic effect. "That's when we realized something had to be wrong."

"How can it go wrong?" Hop blinks in confusion. "Route Ten is a _hill_. Don't you just hike on up?"

"Exactly." Leon nods. "I knew what I was doing."

"Exactly." Sonia shakes her head. "Can you believe he got lost?"

* * *

"So I still hadn't shown my face in Wyndon the next day, and Sonia was going mad," Leon takes over the story, delighting in her reaction.

"I was _not_ going mad."

"You were," Leon insists. "Raihan told me. You were pounding on his hotel room door at seven in the morning."

_"You have to help me find Leon," Sonia called from the hallway, her voice desperate. "If anything ever happened to him, I don't know what I'd do."_

Sonia rolls her eyes. "And that's _not_ what I said. It went more like this…"

_"We'd better go look for Leon," Sonia called from the hallway, her voice derisive. "He can't find his way out of his own tent, and you won't get to beat him in the semifinals if he doesn't show up."_

"You thought Raihan would beat me?" Leon feigns offence. "After all we'd been through?"

Sonia shrugs, resolute in her indifference as her shoulder brushes his. "Maybe I did."

Leon isn't above a cheap shot. "Yeah, well, your hair was all over the place, too."

"My hair was perfect." Reflexively, Sonia adjusts her ponytail. "And how would you know? You weren't there."

* * *

"So you can guess what Sonia did next," Leon goes on, daring her to disagree. "After Raihan told her I could take care of myself and went back to sleep, she hurried down the hall to Nessa's room instead.

_Sonia appeared at the door. "Leon's missing, and I can't stop thinking about him—I know he's stronger than a Duraludon, but still. Am I overreacting?"_

"Oh, please." Sonia throws up her hands. "That had nothing to do with you!"

_Sonia appeared at the door. "Leon's missing, but forget him. I know some brilliant strategies you can use in the Champion Cup, and can I borrow a hair tie?"_

Leon smirks. "I thought your hair was perfect."

"Shut up."

* * *

"The night before the Cup, it was clear we needed to be concerned," Sonia narrates with rising apprehension. "Leon didn't have much time left, and the weather was getting worse."

_They gazed up at the raging snowstorm. Things didn't look good for Leon. Especially with his backwards sense of direction and nonexistent cooking skills._

"You've got to be kidding," Leon protests. "I had it all under control."

_A lone snowflake fell from the sky as Leon marched onward like a future Champion. He wasn't lost. His friends in Wyndon were being ridiculous. Especially the annoying ginger one. What was her name, again?_

Sonia elbows him in the ribs. "You're ridiculous!"

* * *

"Couldn't you have just called Lee?" Hop wonders aloud.

Sonia marvels at the way Hop thinks, like a professor in the making. "We tried calling. His phone was dead."

"Phones didn't last long back in those days. You and Gloria don't know how good you have it." Leon flashes Hop a wink between brothers. "Sonia left me some interesting voicemails."

_"Leon, where are you?" Sonia sounded terrified. "Call me as soon as you get this so I can breathe."_

She jabs at him playfully. "Are you serious? You wish."

_"Leon, get it together." Sonia sounded exasperated. "I thought your mum told you to pack an extra battery."_

"Come on." Leon fixes her with a penetrating look. "You were worried."

"No." Sonia crosses her arms, determined not to relent. "I wasn't."

* * *

Leon fights for the upper hand as he brings the story to its conclusion. "So Sonia convinced Raihan and Nessa to go searching for me, even though they had their own matches to get ready for."

Sonia steadfastly ignores him. "So we agreed as a group. We had to search for Leon."

"But I found them first," Leon cuts in.

"We got to the gates and there he was. Walking into Wyndon like, 'Hey, guys.' Like he had no idea what he'd put me through." Sonia falters as her slip of the tongue becomes apparent. "I mean, us."

Leon raises an eyebrow—it hasn't gone unnoticed. "I walked through the gates, ready to take on the world."

Sonia can only laugh. "You weren't ready. You were a mess."

_Leon emerged from the gates of Wyndon. His clothing was torn, like he'd been wandering helplessly for ages until Charizard had taken pity on him and dragged his poor trainer up the hill._

Leon laughs back, refusing to concede. "I was all roughed up and rugged, like an action hero."

_Leon emerged from the gates of Wyndon. His clothing was torn, like he'd been battling super-strong Pokémon and winning every single time before deciding to get a move on and win the Champion Cup too._

"You give yourself too much credit, you know that?" Sonia teases.

"Hey, I didn't score that Cup for nothing." Leon turns to Hop with an air of instruction. "I'd camped out for a while to get some last-minute training in. Guess I should've told my friends."

"Admit it." Sonia draws herself up, challenging him. "You got lost."

Leon lounges on the desk with that Champion grin he still retains even now. "Nope."

* * *

Hop listens from the counter with a skeptical ear. He's not sure what to believe. He's not even sure the story's over.

"So that's how I came to Wyndon to conquer the Champion Cup and scared the hair clips off Sonia in the process."

"That's how Leon walked around in circles for days and almost missed the Champion Cup altogether."

Leon has his version of events. Sonia has hers. But there's more to it, Hop recalls. "And then you kissed, didn't you?"

Sonia questions whether she's heard right. "What?"

A mischievous smile forms on Hop's face. "Lee's told me this one before."

"I thought you forgot!" Leon glares at Hop. His brother has just landed him in more trouble than he knows.

"You told him we _kissed_?" Sonia's mind is racing. Her stare burns into his with indignation and embarrassment and curiosity all at once.

For a rare moment, Leon is speechless.

"I was fourteen," he manages at last, head lowered as if the brim of his cap could shield him. "Or something like that. And I thought it sounded cooler that way."

"Hop?" Sonia's voice is sweet, almost forebodingly so. "Your work here is done. You can finish up tomorrow."

The tension is suffocating. Hop can't escape sooner.

"Sure." He glances dubiously from Sonia to Leon as he collects his belongings. "Thanks for the story." He starts for the door. "Maybe Raihan will tell me what really happened."

Leon rises from the desk to follow, but Sonia gets up after him.

"Not you."

* * *

"You were fourteen and you thought it was cool."

Sonia's advancing on Leon with wavering reproach. Demanding an explanation. Or an apology. Or perhaps more yet.

He shouldn't have said that. They both know he shouldn't have said that.

He doesn't say a thing.

"And what do you have to say for yourself now?" There's a deliberate edge to her words, like he's bound to get told.

But she can't seem to meet his eyes. Her gaze drifts downward, locked on his lips. A hand goes to her hair, conflicted, twisting.

She isn't fooling anyone. Not him. Not even herself.

He steps toward her, closing the distance between them. He takes the telltale hand in his. His voice is low, almost a whisper. "What do _you_ say?"

It's not a fourteen year-old kiss.

She pulls him in until he's pressed up against her, pinning her atop the desk as he slides her lab coat off her shoulders and papers fly everywhere along with never mind what else.

Too soon they break apart, startled back to reality by the thud of books toppling to the floor. Sonia's dazed and dreamlike, leaning on a chair for support.

Leon walks into the door on the way out. He hardly notices.

She laughs, still awed at what she's done.

He leaves with a distracted wave. "Cool story."


End file.
